


Fade

by Big_Spicy_Garlean_Fucker



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Domestic Bliss, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hair, Light Petting, M/M, Married Life, Praise Kink, Schmoop, They Have Kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:13:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26521960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Big_Spicy_Garlean_Fucker/pseuds/Big_Spicy_Garlean_Fucker
Summary: Varis's hair is fading, but it is still beautiful.Lucius reminds him of this and more.Written for FFXIVwrite2020 prompt #17
Relationships: Varis zos Galvus/Lucius Batiatus, Varis zos Galvus/Original Male Character
Kudos: 6
Collections: Final Fantasy Write Prompt Challenge 2020





	Fade

**Author's Note:**

> ITS CANON!!!!!!!!!!!! H

It’s a lazy summer afternoon in Garlemald, warm and peaceful with the sky dusted in sparse, fluffy clouds. Fragrant blossoms whirl through the air and gather in the city’s gutters, while the populace rejoices at no longer having to freeze their tits off daily. Up in the Imperial Palace the Emperor and his husband lay together enjoying the sun through huge, ornate windows that block out most of the wind. They’ve been married thirty years, and life has slowed down for them both. Nowadays they have plenty of time to lounge in the parlor and forget about the world – they’re not at war anymore, and have everything they’ve ever needed right here. Especially each other.

Varis has delegated enough of his work to his sons that he sorely lacks for things to do – all the better, Lucius often tells him, for he’s spent the past what, fifty or so years working himself to the bone? Now, the old Emperor rests blissfully with his face in his husband’s soft lap. Long, delicate fingers comb through his hair ever so gently, and though it usually puts him to sleep Varis tries his best to stay awake so he can enjoy the sensation a little while longer. Even asleep, Lucius will tend to his hair. How Varis loves him.

“I love you too.” Lucius whispers, his touch trailing over Varis’s third eye and down the bridge of his nose, sweeping across one sharp cheekbone and back up into his hair. “My golden sun.”

“Mmmmnnn…” Varis’s eyes slip shut and the faintest smile curls his lips up at the corners. It’s practically invisible due to the shape of his jowls, but Lucius feels it through his aethers warming, softening his core. The lightest scritch of pointed nails tickle the greying roots of his hair. Lucius parts the locks with care, running his thumb along the side of Varis’s face.

“Your hair’s fading.” he murmurs. “So soft…”

Varis grunts in reply. _‘You know how glorious it looked in my twenties? Cameras weren’t even invented then, but… if only you could have seen it.’_ He closes in on himself a little, aethers growing just a touch heavy with regret. _‘When I was young…’_ He trails off. The images his mind conjures are murky snippets, nothing clear. How much has he forgotten?

“Var…” Lucius brings his other hand to stroke along Varis’s jaw, just as sharp and handsome as it’s always been. “I began to love you when you let me know you _here_.” A touch down to his husband’s broad chest is all he can reach, but it matters, brings warmth to Varis’s core. “And as far as I’m concerned, you have always been so ridiculously handsome you’re probably disqualified from that _Mr Garlemald_ competition.” Varis chuckles at that, a little half-breath huff through his nose. Lucius continues. “I would love you at every stage of your life, provided you allowed me to. And forever beyond, too. Your hair has always been so beautiful… it still is.”

“Nnnn…” Varis doesn’t say anything, but Lucius knows just what he means through their vibrant soul connection. Varis can’t read him but Lucius is always listening to his thoughts, knows exactly when Varis wants to mentally communicate with him. _‘Are you quite sure you aren’t describing yourself?’_

Lucius blushes rose pink and it spreads all the way down his chest, visible through the open collar of his ruffled shirt. “Radiance…” The fingers in Varis’s hair ghost along his thickly muscled neck, into the dip of his collarbones and splay between his pecs. Varis’s pulse is already picking up with curiosity and perhaps some cheekiness too. “Come now… you flatter me any further and I’ll give you one good bite.” A gentle pat to Varis’s chest sweeps right back up into his hair, where Lucius’s fondling now serves to relax instead of arouse. “Right on the nip.”

“Mhmm.” Varis doesn’t say one word about how much Lucius complained when their sons were chewing on him constantly, some twenty-five ish years ago, but it’s too late to control his thoughts. He remembers Lucius having to bottle feed their middle child because he would not stop biting, and hard, too. Crassus would become High Legatus of the Imperial Legions, and was currently off sinking his teeth into mountains of paperwork. Lucius glances away from Varis’s thoughts with a sigh.

“Work again? Are you craving the thrill of yet more reports where the most interesting part is deciphering the Legatus’s handwriting?”

“S’ not that bad.” Varis mutters. “Just… nn. Mind wanders. You know how it goes.”

“I do.” says Lucius with his eye on Varis’s lovely long hair instead of his innermost thoughts. “My brilliant strategist just can’t keep his mind off the war table, mm?” His smile softens at the way Varis’s aethers swell bright and proud, ivory-gold singing the victories of years past. “My big, strong Varis, conquering the whole entire world… mmmmm.” His stroking turns to warm circles around Varis’s scalp, fingerpads heated up with a touch of fiery aether. Varis’s jaw slackens and he groans, breathing coming a little quicker now that Lucius is actively praising him. He doesn’t even have to ask for his husband to continue – Lucius croons to him so sweetly over his figure, his mind, all the things he knows about himself to be good and firm and true. Lucius knows him inside out, after all. There isn’t a single thing he can deny.


End file.
